Sack of Chief Justice, INEC Chairman
By Gift Olivia Samuel, The Sight News
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria(HURIWA) has berated the Supreme Court, following its judgement that saw the removal of the governor of Imo state, Emeka Ihedioha and enthronement of the All Progressive Congress Candidate, Senator Hope Uzodinma.
This is just the Association called for a review of the judgement, as well as the sack of the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Ibrahim Tanko Muhammad, who it said, has led the judiciary to a ‘very miserable dimension’ integrity-wise, adding that the judiciary has no integrity left.
Speaking in a press briefing on Thursday, the National Coordinator, HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, stated that the matter of the Imo state election judgement has created tumultuous reactions, stressing that HURIWA supports the call for a review of whatever must have happened in the supreme court.
It would be recalled that the apex court ruled that Ihedioha is not duly elected as he did not secure the majority votes, and ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return from Ihedioha and issue a fresh one to APC’s Candidate, Hope Uzodinma.
However, Onwubiko who said HURIWA is in full support of a review, stated that, “The review of the ruling may not necessarily lead to the emergency of Emeka Ihedioha but our question is, what kind of mathematical insanity was displayed in that judgement?
“How can you have a total number of voters accredited by INEC—a body supported by law and the supreme court said no and dashed INEC over a hundred thousand additional voters, where did they manufacture those ghost voters?
“The mathematical errors of how many people were supposed to vote is crucial. What do I tell my son— that the highest court in the land cannot solve simple mathematics, does it mean the people who presided over that case all had F9 in mathematics?
“Something has to be done to correct that mistake and we support any logical legal measures that will be taken to address this matter once and for all”, he said.
Furthermore, he called for the fundamental restructuring of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as well as the sack and arrest of the INEC chairman.
“He should have been long sacked even before the Imo state debacle happened, which demonstrated the gross incompetence of INEC”, he emphasized. “INEC, you were there in court when the supreme court dashed you over a 100,000 additional voters and INEC said nothing, what kind of a country is this?”
Onwubiko who further stated that this is the only time the Supreme court has given a judgement and people are on the street in their numbers to protest the ruling, called on Nigerians to wake up and understand that the ruling is not a PDP or APC issue, but that of the Nigerian Constitution as a country.
In his words, “We are not concerned about who is in a political office, but about the process. Our major concern is that the judiciary is at a very critical stage and our concern goes beyond the Imo state election. We are concerned about the loss of integrity by the judicial system and at the moment there is a question mark over the supreme court of Nigeria.
“The supreme court can review themselves and correct the errors. You do not say because you are the highest court in the land, so you cannot review. It will be on record that at a point in time, the supreme court made fatal errors in their judgement.
“We are saying that some aspect of your judgement is questionable, not because one man won, but because there are factual errors that need to be addressed” he emphasized.
He also called for the immediate dismissal of the nine lawmakers of the Imo state House of Assembly who defected to the APC following the ruling of the Apex Court.
